A new way to invest in early-stage companies

For you legally to hold securities through Netcapital we need your name, address, phone number, social security number, and bank information. We take extra measures to ensure your data is safe and secure.

Holding companies

You may choose to hold your Netcapital investments in the name of a trust or some other holding entity. In those instances, we will need verification that the holding entity is legally established and that you are authorized act on its behalf. Generally, we require the trust instrument or other formation document.

Protecting your information

As a financial institution, we make every effort to protect your sensitive data. Sensitive data, such as social security numbers or bank account numbers, are encrypted before they ever leave your computer and make their way over the internet to our secure servers. Once the data is in our database, almost nobody within Netcapital has access to it. We never share this information outside of Netcapital except where absolutely required to process your payment or comply with regulations.

All interactions with investors via email are with the email address provided by the investor when creating an account on Netcapital. If discussion is required by phone, it is done by calling the phone number provided with their Netcapital account or a phone number provided from the email account associated with their Netcapital account. We do not disclose full addresses or account numbers when discussing issues on the phone, and require the investor to volunteer that information in order to correct any issues with addresses or account numbers.

Netcapital currently does not charge investors any fee to invest in offerings. However, in the case of payments by wire, your bank may assess you a wire fee, and, in the case of payments by credit/debit card, a credit card convenience fee is charged. If you invest $100, we debit your account for $100 and you own $100 worth of shares at the time of the closing. The company in which you invest pays Netcapital a 4.9% portal fee of the amount raised upon the successful raising of capital through Netcapital. However, if you choose to withdraw your investment commitment, you will receive the balance of your account minus the credit card convenience fee. NetCapital reserves the right to retain the 4.9% portal fee in cases where a withdrawal request is made after the withdrawal deadline.

Netcapital offers four ways for you to pay for your investment: credit/debit cards; ACH transfer from your U.S. bank account (US Investors only); wire transfer or transfer from your Netcapital Systems wallet account.

International investors can also pay in three ways: credit/debit cards; wire transfer or transfer from your Netcapital Systems wallet account. For wire transfers, many investors recommend TransferWise.

If you choose to make an investment commitment by wire, Netcapital will send you a unique identifier code, or wire payment code. Please include this unique identifier code as the payment description when giving your bank your wire instructions. This code will help us identify, track and apply your wire accurately to your Netcapital account. If this code is not included, there is no guarantee we will be able to track your payment and it may be lost or your investment commitment may be delayed or not processed in time to allow you to invest in your selected investment on Netcapital.

Credit/Debit Cards:
Your card will generally be charged immediately following the submission of your investment commitment.
The name that will appear on your billing statement will read "NETCAPITAL–" followed by the first 10 characters of the name of the company, for example: "NETCAPITAL–COMPANYNAMEINC", for which you made an investment commitment.

ACH:
For U.S. investors, this method involves a direct debit (an ACH transfer) from your Netcapital Systems wallet or from your U.S. checking or savings account.
Note that the option to make an ACH transfer from checking or savings accounts is not available for international investors. For international investors, we accept payment by credit/debit card, wire, and transfers from your Netcapital Systems wallet. If you are eligible to and pay via ACH transfer, there are no additional fees to investing.

Wire Transfer:
Some banks charge a fee for wire transfers. Please be sure to talk to your banking institution about any fees involved to ensure they are covered in the total amount of your payment and the full amount of your investment commitment is available for investment.
For example, if you are seeking to make an investment of $500 in a company via wire transfer and your bank charges a wire transfer fee of $25, you may wish to transfer $525 (your $500 investment target plus the $25 wire transfer fee paid to your bank). Otherwise, you may end up investing only $475 because the $25 wire transfer fee will be deducted by your bank from your requested investment amount.
For both ACH and wire transfers, funds will be debited from your bank account within a few days after you invest. You should make sure there are enough funds in your account during that period.

If you choose to make an investment commitment by wire, Netcapital will send you a unique identifier code, or wire payment code. Please include this unique identifier code as the payment description when giving your bank your wire instructions. This code will help us identify, track and apply your wire accurately to your Netcapital account. If this code is not included, there is no guarantee we will be able to track your payment and it may be lost or your investment commitment may be delayed or not processed in time to allow you to invest in your selected investment on Netcapital.

Transfer from Your Wallet:
You can use available balances in your Netcapital Systems wallet account to make an investment commitment.

Netcapital’s credit card payment processor assesses a convenience fee, payable by investors, for the convenience of using credit or debit cards to pay for investment commitments. The convenience fee is 2.9% (or 3.9% for international cards) of the amount you invest plus $0.30 per investment transaction. This amount will be added to the amount you choose to invest. For example, if you choose to invest $1,000 in a Netcapital issuer via credit card, your card will be charged $1,029.30; the issuer will receive the $1,000 as your investment in the company at the time of the closing of the offering and the credit card processor will receive and retain $29.30. Once the amount of an investment commitment is charged to your credit/debit card, the convenience fee is non-refundable in all cases.

Your investment commitment is charged to your credit/debit card or debited from your Netcapital Systems wallet account immediately and will be debited from your bank account within a few days. Companies may receive a disbursement of funds during their campaigns (a rolling close), as well as at the end of an offering. However, the company may not receive a disbursement (close on your funds) until a few days after, or perhaps months after you invest. It all depends on when the company chooses to withdraw funds and conduct a rolling or final closing.

No.

Please never send a check of any kind (including using on-line bill pay, CheckTree, MoneyGram, or similar services) to Netcapital or to a company conducting a campaign on Netcapital or the escrow bank, Luminate Bank.

As a regulated fund portal regulated by the SEC, Netcapital can only facilitate investments online using its website (www.netcapital.com).

If you send a check, we will attempt to return the check to you, or destroy it, without interest or deduction, and no investment commitment will have been made or recognized. In these cases, you may wish to place a stop payment order on your check, if available.

As a financial institution, just like your bank or broker, we need to be able to verify each investor's identity. This is not just helpful for the companies raising capital with Netcapital (imagine trying to issue shares to, and deal with ongoing investor communications, etc. with someone who may not exist); it is also required under U.S. federal law to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering.

You may be prompted to provide your SSN, ID or Passport to complete an investment. Which of these is asked for will depend on, and is specific to, your situation. We collect this data to verify who you are and to make sure you are not on a list that would prevent the startup from doing business with you.

When we collect your personal identifying information, it's sent through a secure link to an established third party verification service. If your identification documentation is cleared, there will be no further action required; if something isn't right, we will reach out and help you fix it.

We want everyone to be able to invest on Netcapital; however, failure to provide requested documents or information will result in your investment commitment being cancelled.

Yes. Your investment commitment is placed in an escrow account at Luminate Bank. Funds are transferred to the Netcapital issuer only after their fundraising target has been met and the offering has been successfully closed. Funds are refunded to you in the event your investment commitment is withdrawn, your identity could not be verified or the company does not complete its offering.

You have 7 days to ensure payment is sent to the escrow account or your investment application will be automatically canceled.

Please check out your investor dashboard to see the status of your payment.

If your payment fails, we will send you an email with instructions on how to fix the failed payment.

If you didn't get the email, you can check the statuses of all your payments on your investor dashboard. You can always email help@netcapital.com for further assistance.

If your payment is shown as "Requested", that means the transfer of funds has not yet been initiated, and you may have to take further action. For example:

• Bank Transfers (ACH) & Card Payments: We do not initiate your payment until you have been verified by our system. If your payment hasn't been initiated, then we may not have sufficient information to verify you. We will email you when this happens, and give you an appropriate action to take.
• Wire Transfers: Your payment hasn't been received yet. It typically takes wire payments one business day to show up, at which point they will be marked as "Paid"

If your payment is shown as "Pending", that means the transfer of funds has been initiated and your payment is currently processing. For example:

• Bank Transfers (ACH): It can take up to 7 business days to confirm that funds are deposited, once the payment is initiated.
• Credit Cards: Typically, the charge will be posted to your account immediately upon the use of your card to make an investment commitment and we will credit your account within 1 day of your charge transaction.

In order to finalize your investment and issue your shares, there are many regulatory and payment processing requirements that we must observe that come from relevant regulators (e.g., the SEC and FINRA) and our banking and payment processing providers. Sometimes, it can take several weeks (or longer) for us to finalize a fundraise after it closes. Once your funds have been sent to the company, your investment commitment will be fulfilled, and information about the shares you purchased will be available on your Dashboard.

We use Plaid, Inc., a San Francisco based financial technology (“fintech”) company that builds connections with thousands of financial institutions to let you link your bank account to your Netcapital account.. Netcapital does not retain or have access to the login credentials you provide Plaid when connecting your bank account Plaid, Inc is a trusted partner to companies ranging from popular fintech applications to Fortune 500 companies and major banks. These relationships require the company to have strong security controls in place, and its platform is regularly audited and tested to ensure its controls meet industry standards. For example, Plaid ensures sensitive data (both in motion and at-rest) is encrypted, and regularly completes SOC-2 audits. When you enter your online banking credentials on the Netcapital site, Plaid establishes an encrypted connection with your bank. This flow was designed with security in mind, as an easy alternative to entering static account and routing numbers that you might need to look up, write down and enter accurately on our site. Once this connection is established, our application receives a token. This token enables us to get the data we need to provide our service without direct access to your bank account or credentials.

Micro-deposits: If you prefer not to enter your login credentials for your banking institution, (or if your bank does not support that feature), you can manually enter your account and routing numbers. If you follow this approach, as part of the verification process, Plaid will send two micro-deposits to the account you specified, which you will be asked to verify on your Netcapital Payment Methods page. These deposits will be for amounts less than $1 and may take up to 24 hours to appear as ACH credits on your bank statement. Once you have correctly entered the amounts of these micro-deposits, you will receive a confirmation email and your linked account will be ready to transfer funds via ACH.

We use a system called Plaid to verify ownership of bank accounts to make investments safer. Plaid has direct integrations with thousands of financial institutions, and they add new ones all the time. If you're unable to find your bank, it means that they aren’t yet on that list, but you can still set up your bank account to make ACH transfers. You can do so using the “Micro-deposits” process described in the answer above. Alternatively, you can still invest using your credit/debit card, via wire transfer, or by a transfer from your Netcapital Systems wallet.

It’s ok to change your mind!

You may withdraw your investment at any time up to 48 hours before the offering closes. You can do so from your investor dashboard. If you choose to cancel or withdraw your investment commitment in a particular company, you may receive back your entire investment commitment amount. Please note that transaction fees, such as a card fee, are not refundable. If you paid by credit card, the applicable convenience fee will not be refunded and will be retained by the credit card processing firm and others involved in processing your credit card payments (but not Netcapital).

It typically takes a few business days to receive your refund. If you withdraw an investment within a few hours of making it, it’s possible that the funds will never leave your account. However, if we have already initiated the ACH transfer for your investment commitment, we need to wait for the funds to arrive, and then process the return of the balance of your account. Please allow up to two weeks for this process.

Refunds of payments made other than by credit/debit card will be returned to your Netcapital Systems Wallet for Uncommitted Funds. Credit/debit card refunds will be made to the card you used to make the investment commitment that is being refunded.

Please note, if you choose to withdraw your investment commitment prior to 48 hours before the withdrawal deadline, you will receive the balance of your account minus the credit card convenience fee. Netcapital reserves the right to retain the 4.9% portal fee in cases where a withdrawal request is not made prior to 48 hours before the withdrawal deadline.

Material Changes

If, prior to closing the funding, the company you’re investing in makes a material change to the offering terms or other information that was disclosed to you, you will be notified of this change. In accordance with applicable regulations, if you are investing in a 4(a)(6) offering you have five business days to confirm that you still want to make your investment and we follow the same approach for a 506(c) offering. If you do not confirm your investment within five business days of that notification, your investment will be cancelled.

Please check with the financial institution that sponsors your IRA to confirm whether Netcapital investments are permitted in your IRA. Some traditional IRAs limit the investment options available to stocks, bonds, mutual funds and certificates of deposit (CDs).

You may want to shop around for a financial institution that offers a self-directed IRA that accommodates available investment options such as the companies offered through Netcapital if you want to be able to invest your retirement assets in companies raising capital through Netcapital.

Yes, every offering on Netcapital has a Q&A forum where you can post questions to the entrepreneur and he or she will respond to your questions through the forum. All communication must occur through Netcapital’s public forum so all investors have access to the same information.